A moment of clarity
by FOXY FOLLOWER
Summary: When Sara lets her hair down after a tough case some funny things happen. Rubbish summary but the story makes up for it! I hope!


**Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or the wonderful characters but the story is mine as are the mistakes.**

**A/N Just some silliness that came to me while at work, please read and review.**

**A moment of clarity**

Admitting defeat had never been Sara Sidle's style and today was no different, she had worked a gruelling double shift to find the person who had brutally raped and murdered a teenager on a UNLV campus, she needed to unwind and that is where the problems started, Sara didn't have a diversion, at least not a constructive one. She had tried, really she had but somehow she always ended up sat at home with a bottle of beer and a crappy novel. But tonight she wanted some fun; hell no she needed some fun. Sitting in the breakroom contemplating her limited options she sensed someone breeze into the room, Catherine, dressed in a fitted trouser suit was helping herself to a mug of Greg's special brew which had been liberated from its hiding place at the beginning of shift.

"Catherine, are you busy later? I was thinking maybe we could go out, let our hair down, what do you think?"

Catherine eyed the brunette with scepticism, since she had joined the team over three years ago they had gone out on only one occasion, when she had found out that Hank had been cheating on her. Things at times had been tense between the two women but she had noticed Sara had been withdrawn recently and her curiosity got the better of her.

"Sure, I'll pick you up at around 5pm" Seeing a rare smile spread across the younger woman's face Catherine left the room heading to her locker to pick up her purse.

Later that day the pair sat uneasily in Sam's Bar, a small establishment only a few blocks from Sara's apartment and as long as you didn't look too closely at some of the peculiar stains on the upholstery you were fine. "So what's all this about Sara? You've not been yourself for the last few months."

Sara stared absently into her beer, what could she say, should she come clean and confess that she had finally confronted her feelings for Grissom and that he had turned her down flat and now she felt lost and stupid and to make matters worse he had taken it upon himself to pretend the whole episode hadn't happened and he was now making a sterling effort of avoiding her and barely speaking to her. Looking at the woman in front of her who strangely resembled a teenager about to be let into the gossip of the century, she was virtually foaming at the mouth in anticipation, she quickly decided to take the safer option and mumbled, "I guess I'm just tired and a bit run down." Catherine's disappointment was palpable; she actually deflated in front of Sara like a balloon losing it buoyant gas.

Catherine Willows was not a woman easily put off, she had seen with her own eyes the way Gil and Sara acted around each other and the whole team had witnessed their merry dance of non-courtship, "That is B.S, I'm sorry but you wear your heart on your sleeve for everyone to see, it's obvious this has something to do with a certain tarantula owning entomologist," Seeing Sara shift uncomfortably in her chair and drain her beer in one long chug she sighed and continued in a softer tone. "Look, if you need to talk about this I'm here and maybe between the two of us we can work something out,"

"Where to start? Cath I have made a complete fool of myself," resting her head on her hands before going on to reveal how they had met in San Francisco and how he had insisted on them keeping in contact, watching as Catherine listened intently as she let all her emotions flood out punctuated by regular drinks of beer, by the time she had finished Catherine was wide eyed and Sara was more than a little inebriated. Flopping back in her chair Catherine blew out a long breath and absorbed the information overload she had endured over the last couple of hours.

"No wonder you look like shit." She mused.

"Thanks Cath, I knew I could rely on you to tell it like it is." Slurring her words slightly Sara headed to the restroom taking slow steps to reduce the risk of her falling over.

Gill Grissom could be a lot of things, enigmatic, determined and compassionate (to his bugs) but he was also stupid, Oh he had a list of qualifications a mile long and he could explain the lifespan of a blowfly at the drop of a hat but when it came to a certain brunette he was clueless, she had warned him on more than one occasion to lift his head out of the microscope but obviously she needed to be a little more direct to get the message across. Flipping out her cell she hit speed dial.

"Grissom" A gruff voice answered.

"Where are you Gil?

"Cath is that you? I'm at the lab catching up on some paperwork so that I can get back to doing my real.."

"Yeah great, listen Sara needs the benefit of your attention." She interrupted, for a guy who spoke very little he could ramble on when he did chose to converse.

"Is she alright? Is she sick?" The panic in his voice only served to confirm her suspicions and a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she began to reply.

"I'm with her now, can you meet us at Sam's Bar off Freemont Street ASAP." Catherine spotted Sara making her way tentatively across the room; she hoped the cryptic message would be enough to get her friend to go along with her request. As the tall woman beckoned the barman to set up another round of drinks Catherine rolled her eyes.

"I'll be with you in 10, stop with her Cath." With that Grissom broke the connection and got to his feet, the mound of paperwork covering his desk forgotten. As he rounded the corner he nearly ploughed straight into Captain Brass.

"Hey, where are you off to in such a hurry?" He could almost swear that his friend was actually flustered, not a common sight.

"Sara's in some sort of trouble, Cath's just phoned, they're at some bar off the strip, I'm heading over there now."

"Oh no," Brass sighed, "I thought I had gotten through to her." His vague comment perplexed Grissom, "What's going on Jim? Why does everybody seem to know about this apart from me?"

Now that was too much of an opportunity for Brass to miss, "Because, we don't walk around with our head permanently up our ass." Brass's words stung, had he really been acted like a complete jerk? Not wanting to ask the question out loud in case he didn't like the reply he brushed passes the detective and headed towards the exit.

"Hey wait up. I'll come with you." Brass hurried to catch his friend up, he had an inkling that this would be a showdown not to be missed.

Back at the bar the beer bottles were lined up in front of Sara, Catherine's attempts to curb her drinking had fallen on deaf ears and she was steadily sliding lower and lower in her seat as she continued to voice her unhappiness with the, 'Grissom situation', fuelled by alcohol her voice was getting louder and louder with each drink. "What's wrong with me Cath? I only asked him out to dinner, you'd have thought I asked him to sleep with me" She paused for a second and then added, "again!" Suddenly standing up she found herself face to face with the man himself, grabbing the table for support she slurred, "YOU! Ohmygod, I'm having a bad dream." Turning and almost falling onto Brass in the process who had been standing behind her quietly enjoying the show, she let out a strangled scream and exclaimed, "Scrub that last statement, I'm having nightmares with hallucinations." By now she was swaying in a vain attempt to keep her balance, she looked from Catherine to Grissom and finally to Brass before a giggle escaped her lips and she added, "Shit, it's the Good the bad and the Ugly!" Finishing her speech by promptly passing out, thankfully Brass wasn't so upset by her outburst that he didn't quickly catch her as she headed south.

Grissom by now completely dumbfounded stared at Catherine, "What the hell have you done to her?"

Pulling herself up to her full height Catherine stood squarely in front of her soon to be ex friend and unleashed her anger, "What have **I** done to her, Jesus Grissom, THAT." She motioned over to the groaning heap that Brass was carefully trying to get a grip of as it slumped further to the ground. "Is all your doing." Jabbing her finger into Grissom's chest to reinforce her words she sneered through gritted teeth, "You make sure you get this sorted today or else I won't be responsible for my actions, you hear me Gil Grissom."

Collecting her purse she marched over to Brass who transferred the unconscious form of Sara to Grissom's arms and literally frogmarched the detective out the building. Grissom looked from the retreating duo to the sleeping beauty in his arms. Now what? He asked himself, if he was confused as to what to do about the situation before he was completely baffled as to his next move. His thoughts were rudely interrupted by the barman kindly asking him to, "take the young lady home," as it wasn't 'good for business.'

Somehow he managed to get her into the car and it was only when he pulled up outside her apartment building that he remembered she lived on the fourth floor, wishing for the hundredth time that evening that he had not gone in work early he jogged around the outside of the car and opened the passenger door, all his years of study had not prepared him for the task ahead, how the hell was he going to get her out of the car and up four flights of stairs without having a heart attack in the process. Resign to the task ahead he uncoupled her seatbelt and scooped her into his arms_, not bad he thought, not too heavy at all really. _

Staggering up the final flight of stairs, sweat running down his back he cursed his earlier statement, at last seeing her door just ahead he was surprised to hear her voice, "You could have used the elevator at the other end of the building," stifling a laugh she added "did I never mention that before now?"

Unceremoniously dropping the now hysterical woman to her feet he gripped the wall for support and panted, "NO you managed to forget to tell me about that little gem of information."

Once inside Sara's apartment they sat in awkward silence, frantically trying to find something to say, this was harder than normal for Sara as the room was spinning at a quickening pace and she was contemplating whether to head to the bathroom and put herself out of her misery once and for all. All of a sudden Grissom got to his feet and began pacing up and down, his furtive movements only served to make Sara feel worse so she relented and lay full length along the sofa.

Grissom's mind was racing, he was trying hard to find the words that had so far evaded him, this was it, he told himself, _moment of truth time_. Remembering what his mother had once told him, that it was less painful to rip a band aid off quickly than to draw it out he began to talk at an alarming rate, "Sara, I have been wanting to tell you for so long how I feel about you and…." As his words entered into an even flow he continued to pace back and forth and concentrated his eyes on the floor, somehow expecting to draw inspiration from it. After what seemed like hours to him and several quotes later he concluded that the only real words that described how he felt about Sara Sidle were surprisingly simple, "I love you." Not receiving the response he hoped, in fact receiving no response at all he forced himself to lift his gaze up from the floor and search out the object of his newly betrothed love. Shocked was too tame a word to describe what he felt when he saw that she was in fact sound asleep and from the gently snoring sound it would appear that she had been that way for the majority, if not all of his bold display of love. Stunned, Grissom retreated from the small apartment feeling a mixture of relief and disappointment, _Catherine will not be happy_ he mused as he slowly trudged down the now infamous flight of stairs.

In the apartment a small smile gave way to a very large grin as the object of Grissom's affection replayed his not so little speech in her head. Sometimes being an insomniac has its advantages. END Please review!


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